Too Early? Garbageman Sentenced to Jail Time for Starting Work Too Soon

A Georgia garbageman who picked up the trash too early in the morning was sentenced to 14 weekends in jail recently after he was found guilty of violating a local ordinance.

The Sandy Springs, Georgia, city attorney told WSB-TV that he requested jail time for Kevin McGill after becoming frustrated when no other measures would stop sanitation companies from picking up the trash before 7 a.m. An ordinance in the northern Atlanta suburb reportedly limits trash collection to the hours between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

A representative for Waste Collection Inc., where McGill works, told the Daily Mail that the company is working to “resolve the situation” and added that she had never heard of a driver going to jail for such a thing before.

But Sharon Kraun, a Sandy Springs spokesperson, told the Mail that a sanitation worker in the area had been thrown in jail before for a similar violation, adding that all the companies had “fair warning.” She also said McGill had been suspended before in the past for policy violations, which occurred before he went to court for the current offense.

McGill told WSB-TV that the city solicitor told him it was “automatic jail time” even though McGill said it was his first violation. He pleaded guilty to the charge of picking up trash just after 5 a.m., apparently disrupting some residents' sleep.

“I was stunned. I didn't know what to think. I was shocked,” McGill said.

“Fines don't seem to work,” chief prosecutor Bill Riley told the station. "The only thing that seems to stop the activity is actually going to jail.”

McGill, who didn’t have an attorney for his plea or sentencing, now has a new attorney, Kimberly Bandoh. She told the local station that she thought her client should have at least received a warning.

“I mean he's the employee. He's not the employer. Sentencing him to jail is doing what?” Bandoh said.